It was as if his evening had been ruined. His sister had driven the final nail into the coffin, as he began to roll and grumble in his bed. His phone began to vibrate on his nightstand.

Bzzzt

A message? Who could it be? Oh yeah…, I know who it is.

He stops thinking and reaches for his device, searching for the message.

‘Get $2,000 by the end of July or we’ll take the dad’s car’ sent by Termite, of course, it was Termite.

The balls to talk like that to me, yet I’ve never seen him actually do a robbery

Cassedy sighed again, though this time with a mix of frustration and resignation. He wasn’t overly worried—he already had the money. Luck had been on his side two weeks ago when he’d swiped a woman’s brand-new phone. The model had been out for barely a month, and he got a good price for it. Plus, the leftovers from his previous runs with his accomplices, he was set.

Theft, carjacking, breaking and entering, etcetera–he was no stranger to that. Well, that’s besides more serious crimes, something he swears he’ll never retort to.

They promised to let him go when he got $20,000. But who was he kidding? First, it was $5,000. Then $10,000. Then $15,000. They’d just keep raising the bar. The deeper he stepped in, the harder it was to get out. It was like being pulled under by the dark waves of the night.

The city had been overrun with families and gangs, with each wanting to claim their stake in the parish, you have the established members, and some members get paid, and then the minority- those who’re being extorted.

The Empire used to run this town, spreading their grip across every corner until their leader was killed, ‘supposedly’ in a rival gang war which most had taken for propaganda. After that, all hell broke loose—revenge took over, and many lives were lost, innocent or otherwise. Cassedy’s parents knew the area's troubled history when they decided to move here from the countryside. Yet, despite the chaos, the Clarkes considered themselves fortunate. They’d managed to stay out of the direct crossfire, with no ties to the gangs or the criminal underworld that had consumed so many others.

Cassedy begins to think of the kind of life he had missed out on, he counts his blessings grateful for his family and being able to do well for himself in school. He thinks to himself how often those given the same opportunity were able to escape this very town, his eyes well with hopelessness. Lying in his bed hopelessly he begins to drift off, he summons the last of his energy to rise from his bed. Cassedy sits by his computer still bitter about the game he'd lost, quitting for now was his best option. Instead, he believed that watching videos on the internet would soothe his mind until he was ready to fall asleep, the hours went by like a thief of the night, his laughter slowly died out and the sleepiness began to set in a sudden thud heard from his door.

“Cassedy!”, the voice of his mother reverberates off the surface of the door, his body jolted, upset yet still grateful she had woken him up called out to her, no matter how tired he got he still would rather sleep past midnight to get the most out of the day.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Mom, what is it?”, he called out got up and approached the door “Come here for a moment”, he got up and opened his door to his mother adorned in her nurse outfit. “I’m heading out for the night shift,” she said “I’m leaving you in charge of the house”.

His mother had begun working the double shift on some days, her well-being had always been of concern to the others, sometimes Kaithlyn would have to wake her up from sleeping on the counter, and Cassedy often noticed how unsteady her steps were, as if she might wobble and fall.

Guiding her to the door, Cassedy took one last look at her face. Concerned for her well-being, he said, ‘You know it’s not safe to go out this late.” “I’ll be fine,” she reassured him, placing her hands on his shoulders. “You just worry about yourself and your sister. Your father will be released next week, so there’s no need to worry,” she assured him, placing her hands on his shoulders.

Staring into her face, Cassedy noticed the bags under her eyes. A strong sense of urgency had welled up inside him—he needed to do more to help both of his parents. As she raises her hands off him and they say their goodbyes, Cassedy sees her drive off as he hesitates no longer to close the door, behind it he prays a silent prayer for her, knowing she would rather anything bad happen to her rather than her children.

Cassedy moved to the living room deciding to rest on the couch, his body restless rose soon after, and no longer watching the people he loved around him burn out like candles, he headed to his parents' room.

Opening through his father's chest of drawers one by one, it takes a while to find what his father had asked of him– a black box. As he caressed it in his hands, he figured it required something else and muttered to himself in disappointment.

Ah…, needs a key

He then continues rummaging through his father’s stuff begrudgingly, asking himself why his father hadn’t told about it being safeguarded. Struggling to find a key for the box, he decides to check elsewhere in the room, not without organising his father’s stuff. He began to close each drawer one by one until he reached the last one, pushing it halfway. In his bid to clean up his mess he hadn’t packed the clothes in properly, he then began to jam the drawer further pushing his body against it.

Crashhh

A china vase of flowers, perched on top, toppled to the floor, shattering into a mess of fragments, dirt, flowers, and water. Frightened at the mess he had created, Cassedy froze. Only soon after a door down the hall creaked and footsteps approached, his sister’s head peeked through the doorway. “What are you doing in here?”, she said as her eyes fastened on the ground, “Good job, look at what you’ve done”.

“I can clean it up,” Cassedy said, his voice echoing with panic. “And what is our mom going to say when she sees the vase missing?” she asked unsure of how Cassedy would get himself out of trouble, “Then again this is pretty calm, unlike you being a thief!”. “Now’s not the time to bring that up, it’s late head back to your room you have school tomorrow”, he said to try and reassure his sister.

“And so do you? Aren’t you going to school tomorrow?” Kaithlyn questioned him, her face staring right into his face puzzled. Closing the door to the room and walking back to her room, Cassedy shrugged and hissed, his sister had found a way to irritate him once more, but knowing he had other matters to focus on he began to clean up his mess.

Picking up the fragments and wiping up the mess he created, he reached under the drawer to wipe up the small puddle that had formed. Wiping the ground, his hand brushes over something blunt almost like a coin, curious as to what it is he reaches for it only for it to be a key. Hopeful that it would fit, he reached for the box, inserted the key and twisted it only for it to sing the song of success.

‘Nice!’ he thought to himself, as he began to unveil what was inside, only paused by the sudden opening of the door by his sister once more.

“What?” he snapped, annoyed at his sister.

“Go to bed,” she retorted snarkily.

At that moment, he couldn’t help but wonder why blood ever needed to matter.